


Nightmares and Sleepovers

by agentmaine



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, No Romance, just a bunch of family shit!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-29 11:17:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8487274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentmaine/pseuds/agentmaine
Summary: Angus is the world's greatest detective. He's eleven now, too, which means he has to look out for himself. Which means he can't tell his friends when he has nightmares. Which means he really isn't getting the recommended nine hours of sleep. Luckily enough for Angus, he has people looking out for him.





	

Angus may be known as the world’s greatest boy detective – which he definitely is, for the greatest detective part at least – but that doesn’t mean he’s always going to be a _boy_. First of all, he’s already more than aware of the fact that gender is a whole big thing that he might feel different about later on, but for now he doesn’t have to worry about that. He’s only eleven. But at the same time… he’s _eleven._

That’s not so little anymore. It’s certainly not little enough to be having nightmares or crying or hugging onto a teddy given to him years ago by parents he can barely remember. But that’s the situation he’s found himself in more and more recently.

(He shouldn’t miss his parents as much as he does. He already knew they were dead. It’s just the voidfish allowed him to find out how they died, which… wasn’t great.)

At first it was easy to deal with. He wasn’t _that_ tired, he kept up with his work at the bureau and with his studying. After all, even the world’s greatest boy detective still has things to learn. He masked the bags under his eyes as best he could and changed topic if anyone asked if he was feeling okay. Not many people asked at first, Carys, Killian and Noelle aside. Angus ignored the fact that it was a little disheartening by reminding himself that it’s best not to worry others, especially the Reclaimers. Even if he _does_ want to be best friends with them all.

Plus – what was he going to say? _Hi sirs! I’m having reoccurring nightmares about my own death! Or even worse, all of you dying while I can’t do anything to help!_ No way. It sounds silly. So what if they’re a little traumatizing? It’s not _nice_ to have to watch his family – well, the closest thing to a family he has – die on repeat, but he knows he has it relatively easy. He’s old enough to get through this himself.

Or, well, that’s what he thinks until the nightmares decide to increase drastically. On day sixteen of next to no sleep, many panic attacks and no sleep without awful, awful nightmares, Angus just… breaks down, a little. Taako, Magnus and even Merle had been asking him what was wrong for a long while now, but each time Angus ignored it. Until things all get a little too much.

It’s a stressful day to begin with – a ridiculous amount of work had been loaded onto him and that’s usually great! Angus loves being useful. He loves working. He loves helping. But he would also really love a break. And some sleep. A lot of sleep, actually. On top of that, he was feeling pretty homesick. The fake moon is great but he misses the beach, the forest, the playgrounds and the busy towns that he used to visit. He misses being around people his age. And even on top of that, there’s a fight in the dinner hall before bed. While he sits with Magnus, Taako and Merle, two workers start shouting and soon that turns into shoving and pushing and punching. It’s over quickly and it’s nothing compared to some of the things he’s seen while working for the B.O.B, but it shakes Angus up. And with next to no sleep messing with his head, loneliness and homesickness tugging at his heart and work acting as a weight on his shoulders, that’s all it takes for Angus to breaks.

Magnus speaks up as soon as Angus starts crying.

“Woah, hey,” He says. He’s sat across from the boy, Merle sat next to him with Taako to Angus’ side. “Buddy, what’s up? The fight is over. People are just stressed right now.”

“Yeah, little man,” Taako joins in. His tone is somewhat teasing but there’s definite worry there. The elf swivels around in his chair a little to sit facing more towards Angus, a gentle hand tilting his head up. “It’s all G. And with your skills these days, you could sort that shit out if you had to. With the magic and all that cool shit you learnt from the world’s best teacher.”

Merle doesn’t say anything, but he does look worried.

“I-I’m sorry,” Angus blubbers. Tears keep coming. “I just… I’m real tired, sirs. I haven’t slept and it’s silly because I’m eleven and nightmares shouldn’t bother me but-“

Merle is the one that cuts in first. “Kid. Nightmares don’t have an expiry date, sadly. I get ‘em. Pan comes and takes my arm away. My x-treme teen bible gets ruined.  Something happens to Magnus and Taako and –“ he pauses then, and gives the two men a look that is too adult for Angus to understand but reminds him of a father. Which he knows Merle is, of course.

“Anyway,” the dwarf continues. He’s smiling at Angus for once. “It’s okay to have dumb dreams. They happen.”

“Right.” Magnus agrees. His smile is so ridiculously gentle that Angus starts crying more, wiping at tears and snot as fast as he can. “Aw, buddy… C’mon. I have an idea.”

THB share a look between them and apparently, that’s all they need to have a conversation, because in a moment they’ve all nodded at each other and stood up from their seats. Magnus walks around to Angus’ side of the table and helps the boy up, using a large, calloused hand to ruffle his hair. He steps aside and Taako takes his place, the elf leaning down to Angus’ height and tutting.

“My dude. You gotta tell us when shit is up, okay? You’re turning into a bigger kid, _sure_ , but that’s still little. Yeah?” He wipes up Angus’ tears and puts an arm around his shoulders. “Let’s see if we can’t get your baby ass to bed.”

The next thing Angus is aware of, he’s being lifted and placed onto the shoulders of a grinning Magnus Burnsides. “Uh, sir? A-Are you sure I’m not too heavy? Or… too old?”

“Pft. If you were too old for piggy back rides, Taako sure as hell would be, and since he’s not - neither are you. Enjoy the ride, kid.” He chuckles and Angus, despite the fact a few tears are still running down his face, manages a small smile.

Taako walks beside them, looking up at Angus and snorting. “Jeez Louise, five foot nothin’ Ango McDango is finally taller than me. Would ya look at that.”

“It doesn’t take all that much to be taller than you, Taako.” Magnus counters.

“I will burn a goddamn spell slot on you, don’t you think that carrying a child stops that, shithead.”

  

Angus finds himself giggling soon enough, wiping his own tears away with the sleeve of his jumper and letting himself enjoy the back and forth banter between Taako and Magnus. Angus smiles to himself as he watches them because by now, it really doesn’t take the world’s greatest detective to see how much they love each other. Angus had always wanted a brother.

After a few minutes of walking down the meticulously planned corridors of the bureau, they reach the door to Taako’s room. Magnus sets Angus down and ruffles his hair affectionately as Taako opens the door, stepping in before the other two follow. Angus looks around curiously, giggling once more as he hears Magnus grumble at the sight of the Flaming Poisoning Raging Sword Of Doom being used to hang up coats and hats. Because wow, does Taako own a lot of coats and hats.

Tentatively, Angus steps further into the room and watches as Taako and Magnus talk to each other in a hushed tone. Angus takes in the huge bed Taako has – so much bigger than his own – and looks at the various decorations around the room. The umbrastaff lies in a corner and Angus shudders at the sight, the fact that it tried to kill him fresh in his mind. There’s a chair with a few skirts on, a shelf with a couple of recipe books stacked on top of each other, a box of makeup left on a set of drawers and a mirror with notes from Kravitz stuck on. As he takes in his surroundings, Merle reappears, bursting through the door with a bag from Fantasy Costco in each hand.

“I got the shit!” He exclaims, making Taako and Magnus jump. “We launching project ABS?”

“Project… what the _fuck?_ ” Taako raises an eyebrow.

“Y’know,” Merle says, gesturing pointedly towards Angus, then Taako’s stupidly huge bed, then the other men. “ABS! Angus. Bedtime. Sleepover.”

Angus’ eyes widen and despite himself, despite all the stress and sadness and loneliness he’d been feeling, he grins with level of joy that only a kid can achieve. When he speaks, he sounds like he’s just witnessed a miracle. “A sleepover?”

“Yeah, Ango. Sleepover!” Magnus grins, walking over to Merle and taking the bags off him before dumping the contents of them onto the bed. “We’ve had this planned for a while now.”

“We were just waiting for you to ask for help, darling. But I guess starting to cry is a good enough way of, uh, _communicating_.” Taako says, walking to Angus and putting a hand on his back. He gently pushes Angus towards the bed. “We got that good shit for you. Not drugs. Don’t do them, honey. Anyways - pick out your onesie, courtesy of Garfield himself, get yourself changed and we gon’ party.”

“Uh, party?” Angus asks almost nervously as he looks at everything dumped onto Taako’s bed. Four onesies, his own one patterned with stars and planets. A lot of food. A huge blanket, probably as fluffy and as pink as a blanket can possibly be.

“By party I mean group nap, my dude. Now go change! PJ time!” Taako laughs, shooing Angus towards the bathroom of the room. “You don’t wanna see Merle shirtless. _Trust me_. Scarred for life.”

Angus nods and giggles, his spirits already lifted as he goes to change. By the time he returns from the bathroom, Taako, Magnus and Merle are all in their own onesies. Taako has his hair in a bun on the top of his head, Merle has his beard in a plait and Magnus is – well, Magnus is already in bed with the pink bag wrapped around him and a few pieces of candy in his mouth.

All three of the men beam at him as he walks back into the room.

“Angus! You actually look pretty dang rad!” Merle grins, jumping up onto the bed beside Magnus.

“Who says rad anymore, grandpa? Jeeeez. Your x-treme teen bible clearly doesn’t include an x-treme teen lingo section.” Taako snorts, rolling his eyes and hiding a smile. The elf walks over to Angus and puts an arm around his shoulders. “He’s right though, my little dude. You look good.”

“Thank you, sir.” Angus smiles, hoping the blush in his cheeks isn’t too obvious.

(As a matter of fact, it _is_ obvious. Very much so.)

Taako takes Angus’ hand and pulls him to the bed and makes him get onto it before climbing on himself, immediately getting under the covers. Angus finds himself in the middle of a favourite person sandwich – Taako to his left, Magnus to his right and Merle next to Magnus.

He feels something shift around in his heart, a feeling that reverberates to his stomach, across his chest, makes him feel warm and tingly. He realises that he feels safe.

“Now listen, buddy.” Merle speaks up, the food in his mouth altering his speech just slightly. “I know… We aint always the _kindest._ ”

“Especially you, sir.” Angus interjects, politely reaching to take some chocolate form the bag Taako holds out to him.

“Yeah, yeah, especially me.” Merle continues, rolling his eyes. “Whatever. But that doesn’t mean we don’t care, y’know? You’re a good kid. And… because you’re all boy genius and shit, we forget that’s what you are. A kid. And maybe, we’re not the best at looking out for you all the time. But we don’t want you to like, shit, get yourself _killed._ ”

“Exactly!” Taako nods, looking at Angus and smiling a smile so much softer than any Angus has seen from him before. “We care about you, little man. You can come to us if shit gets too much because, hell! Sometimes shit does do that indeed! You’re our _boy._ ”

“Our super fuckin’ smart helper!” Merle adds.

“Our _brother._ ” Magnus finishes off with, once again ruffling Angus’ hair. “Remember that, okay?”

“Oh – uh, um – yeah. Yeah. Thank you, sirs. It… Uh. It means a lot.” Angus stutters out, trying not to cry again. This time it isn’t tears from being sad, though.

It’s tears because he has a family.

Before the waterworks _do_ start again, Taako jumps into the story of how he met Magnus and Merle. It’s one Angus has never heard before and he’s all ears, drinking up the information and soon laughing at the jokes shared between the four of them. The stories don’t stop after just that one, though. Next Magnus tells a story about their last adventure. Merle tells a story about Pan sabotaging his wooden arm the day he decided to go atheist. Angus has the confidence to tell a story about his old friends and is met with an attentive audience who smile at him through the whole thing.

Angus really does feel safe.

He falls asleep that night in Taako’s bed, with his friends surrounding him. Merle falls asleep a huge 5 minutes after he does, leaving Magnus and Taako laughing at the sight of the man in a flower decorated onesie, snoring and holding a bag of candy.

“We should head to bed too, Taako. We have training tomorrow.” Magnus says after a while, his voice easily showing contentment.

“You right.” Taako says, pausing for a moment and allowing his next words a sincerity and seriousness that only Magnus gets to listen to. “We did good here, yeah? Like… We’re helping the kid.”

“We are.” Magnus nods, looking at the boy curled up between them. “We’re not fucking this one up, I think.”

“Good… Love you, Magnus.” Taako says quietly, looking at the man that’s become his brother with again, a fondness only he gets to see.

“Love you too, Taako. Get some rest.” Magnus smiles, settling down on the elf’s bed and closing his eyes. Not a minute later, his soft snoring fills the room.

“Ew, gross.” Taako chuckles to himself.

He leans down to Angus and brushes a curl of hair out the boy’s face before planting a kiss on his forehead, careful not to wake him. “Sleep well, pumpkin. No nightmares.”

Angus smiles in his sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> BOY FUCK DID I MAKE MYSELF EMOTIONAL WITH THIS ONE!  
> anyway. nothing romantic. i just love this family. and this podcast. and this fandom. also, there is one (1) sentence of taakitz-if-you-squint in this.


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